The Arab League said Sunday it rejected a request from Damascus to amend its plan to send monitors to Syria in a bid to end months of violence in the country, dpa reported.
The organization's head, Nabil al-Arabi, said in a statement that the changes requested by the Syrian government "radically change the mission of the Arab monitors to protect civilians in Syria."
"The League insists on addressing the (Syrian) crisis within an Arab context by working to end the violence and responding to the Syrian people's aspirations for reforms and changes," he added.
The pan-Arab group had given Damascus until Saturday to accept the deal, or face economic sanctions.